In Reply to: RE: Hold it!!! posted by roio on October 3, 2014 at 02:22:58:
There is a rather interesting experiment known as the Richard Clark Amplifier Challenge, which has been conducted many times with many listeners. Essentially, Richard Clark, who I think is an audio engineer, challenges the listener to discriminate, under proper A/B/X blind-testing conditions, between their own amplifier, a "standard" amplifier, and a third mystery amplifier X. The basic ground rules are that the listener's own amplifier has to satisfy some basic minimal standards with regard to distortion and frequency response. If the frequency response is too deficient, then Richard Clark mocks up a matching frequency response for his "standard" amplifier with a simple RC network.
Anyway, the upshot from the experiments is that apparently no one has ever succeeded in demonstrating a reliable ability to tell the amplifiers apart. (I think there is a $10,000 prize offered to anyone who succeeds.) Thousands of people, including professionals and amateurs, have tried, apparently.
So my suspicion would be that if the tests were conducted under rigorous blind-testing conditions, nobody would be able reliably and consistently to tell the difference between your Yamaha 2010 and an OTL amplifier.
Chris
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Follow Ups
- RE: Hold it!!! - cpotl 05:50:16 10/03/14 (10)
- RE: Hold it!!! - Lew 07:28:31 10/03/14 (2)
- RE: Hold it!!! - throwback 11:07:14 10/03/14 (1)
- Case in point that you already know about... - Lew 13:56:44 10/03/14 (0)
- RE: Hold it!!! - roio 06:30:50 10/03/14 (6)
- RE: Hold it!!! - cpotl 06:55:31 10/03/14 (5)
- RE: Hold it!!! - roio 07:55:25 10/03/14 (4)
- RE: Hold it!!! - cpotl 21:14:27 10/03/14 (3)
- RE: Hold it!!! - roio 03:33:14 10/04/14 (2)
- RE: Hold it!!! - cpotl 05:29:27 10/04/14 (1)
- RE: Hold it!!! - roio 06:04:45 10/04/14 (0)